The woeful world of Chris Grayling

PROBATION PRIVATISATION costs taxpayers almost £500bn and leads to a more than 10fold increase in reoffending among some offenders.

You do have to wonder exactly what he needs to do to get the sack. The list of woeful and sometimes costly errors related to policies promoted by Chris Grayling continues to grow.

The latest problem to emerge is  the major renationalisation of the probation service due to the complete failure of the privatisation programme promoted by Chris Grayling. The privatisation was forced through by Graying despite the probation service performing well at the time: “In general, the probation sector has been performing effectively.” (NAO report in 2014, https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Probation-landscape-review-summary.pdf)

The decision to renationalise follows on from the announcement of the early termination of the contracts of 8 companies delivering the service, following on from a near £500m bailout of those companies by the state. The £500m arises from an estimate made by the National Audit Office (NAO ) of  payments to the companies beyond their original contract amounting to £296m plus the costs of early termination of £171m.

Perhaps not surprisingly in light of this, Bob Neill, Chair of the Justice Committee of the House of Commons said that the Transforming Rehabilitation programme meant: “Hard working and dedicated staff are doing their best with a probation system that is currently a mess.”(https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/probation-uk-privatisation-rehabilitation-criminals-reform-justice-inquiry-transforming-a8410356.html)

Figures reported in The Guardian showed that delivery of the service seemed to be doing the exact opposite of what probation is intended to do.  Last October,the number of offenders in England & Wales charged with serious offences while being monitored in the community increased by more than 20% in the last 12 months.

More recently the number of serious further offence reviews (triggered when someone under probation supervision is charged with murder, manslaughter, rape or other serious violent or sexual offence) has risen 21% in 2017-8 compared to the previous 12 months. (The Guardian, 16.5.19 https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/may/16/part-privatisation-probation-sevices-to-be-reversed-offender-management-nationalised-chris-grayling)

Meg Hillier, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee commented that: “This is the latest in a long list of projects initiated by Chris Grayling which have been overturned by his colleagues or the courts.”

Grayling originally claimed the key reason for the privatisation was the expertise and management to be found in the private sector. Bigging up the private sector has been the standard approach of the Tories since the late 1970s and its dreadful effects can be found all around.

Nonetheless the sheer scale of the complete catastrophe privatisation unleashed in this sector is difficult to grasp.

Between Jan 2015 and September 2018 the number of offenders recalled to prison increased by almost 50% from 4340 to 6240. At the same time, the % of offenders sentenced to less than 12 months who were recalled to custody rose from 3% to 36%. A summary of the situation contained in a report for the NAO states the following:

“By March 2017, mid-way through the reforms, there was an overall 2.5 percentage point reduction in the proportion of reoffenders since 2011, but there was a 22% overall increase in the number of reoffences per reoffender. The Ministry expected CRCs to reduce reoffending by 3.7 percentage points over the life of the contracts, resulting in £10.4 billion of economic benefits. By March 2017, just six of the 21 CRCs consistently achieved significant reductions in the number of reoffenders.

The Ministry also has not achieved its wider objectives. Only two CRCs have delivered the IT innovation they promised and the number of people recalled to prison has increased by 47% as a result of statutory rehabilitation being extended to those serving sentences of less than 12 months. Offenders serving short sentences often find it difficult to comply with license conditions and available supervision has not been appropriate to reflect the diverse needs of these people. Between January 2015 and September 2018, offenders on short sentences as a percentage of those recalled to prison rose from 3% to 36%.” https://www.nao.org.uk/press-release/transforming-rehabilitation-progress-review/

Amyas Morse, the head of the NAO was also quoted as saying:

“The Ministry set itself up to fail in how it approached probation reforms. Its rushed roll-out created significant risks that it was unable to manage. These have had far reaching consequences. Not only have these failings been extremely costly for taxpayers, but we have seen the number of people on short sentences recalled to prison skyrocket.” https://www.nao.org.uk/press-release/transforming-rehabilitation-progress-review/

What exactly can be expect next from the woeful world of Chris Grayling?

Here for now is a list of some of his (and the wider government's) not so great hits:

1. Banning books for prisoners - a policy the Courts held was illegal in December 2015. 2. Seabourne Freight, a company that owned no ferries, was given a £13m Brexit-related contract to provide ferry services. The contract had to be hurriedly cancelled although the reason given for the cancellation was denied by the Irish company concerned. This did cause almost universal derision for Chris Grayling. 3. Grayling was Transport secretary during the period of the changes to the rail timetable which virtually brought the network to a halt. Failing to question the assurances given by the rail companies is another example of taking the private sector at their word. 1 in 10 trains on some routes cancelled was the actuality. People seeking to get to work or to medical appointments sometimes struggled. 4. “Virtual destruction of a goldstar probation service.” https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jan/06/chris-graylings-record-of-catastrophic-failures 5. Stopping plans to regulate the use of drones. This may have made it easier to deal with the issues at Gatwick. 6. Train punctuality at a 13 year low. 7. Cuts of 45% to supported bus routes since 2010. – Schrödinger's Cat

Earning a nickname - 'Failing' Chris Grayling. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters